SP 2010: Developing for SharePoint 2010 and Windows Azure - Part 1

This article is the first part of a series on developing for SharePoint 2010 with Windows Azure. It provides a step-by-step guide on using Business Connectivity Services (BCS) to connect SharePoint to an Azure-hosted SQL Server database. The author covers prerequisites like Azure accounts and SQL Azure databases, then demonstrates setting up a Secure Store Service for authentication and creating external content types via SharePoint Designer. The focus is on integrating cloud-based data into SharePoint for scalability and flexibility, with future articles planned for deeper Azure integration with Office 365 and SharePoint Online.